Fort

Tangerang, fort

Indonesia

The Tjisadane (Cisadane) river was the border between the Ommelanden of Batavia and the sultanate Bantam (Banten). During the war with Bantam in 1684 the VOC built an army camp in Babakan near Tangerang. After the war an earthen fort with a palisade and tower was built near the bridge over the river in Tangerang. Around 1708 the wooden fort was replaced by a stone fort which had an unusual shape: a square with two normal bastions at the land side and two half bastions with a half circular extension opposite the river. The canons didn’t stand on the wall but behind round embrasures in the wall. Inside the fort were the houses of the officer in charge and the assistant pastor (ziekentrooster), guardhouse, powderhouse and munition store. In 1779 there was a garrison of 38 men under command of an officer.

Around 1800 the construction of a new fort started, but in 1808 governor-general Herman Willem Daendels (1808-1811) stopped the work to cut back on spending. In the 19th century the old fort no longer had a military purpose and the buildings were used as a prison. Today the shopping mall Plaza Tangerang stands on the site of the fort near the bridge over the river Cisadane. The only reminder of the fort is the name of the street: Jalan Bentang Raya (Great Fort Street).

Images

Sources and literature

anoniem/anonymous, Landmonsterrollen (1691-1790)

Knaap, Gerrit, Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie II, Java en Madura = Comprehensive Atlas of the United East India Company, II, Java and Madura (2007)

Heydt, Johann Wolfgang, Allerneuester Geographische- und Topographischer Schau-platz, von Africa und Ost-Indien (1744)